


but he has a girlfriend

by localspacelesbian



Category: Diary of a Future President (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23193640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Liam reflects on how he feels about Bobby and his relationship with Monyca.
Relationships: Bobby Cañero-Reed/Liam Carter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	but he has a girlfriend

The two minutes seemed to drag on as everyone sat around waiting in Danny’s garage. Liam knew that having a party to provide Bobby and Monyca an opportunity to make out had been his idea, but he hadn’t expected it to be so awkward. The others busied themselves with conversation or snacks, but Liam couldn’t get his mind off of Bobby and Monyca for some reason. He was happy for his friend. He was. But there was a part of him that also felt weird, and he didn’t know why. Or maybe he did. He just wouldn’t let himself admit it.

When the timer finally went off, Monyca and Bobby came out of the closet, Monyca gushing to her friends about what a good kisser Bobby was, and Bobby just standing there, with this far away look on his face. But it was gone, and Bobby was smiling before Liam could figure out what it was. The party resumed, and Liam didn’t get a chance to ask him about it.

After the party, they stayed to help clean up. Danny and Ziggy had taken the leftover food and drinks into the kitchen, and Liam and Bobby were in the garage cleaning up trash. Liam asked him about the kiss. Bobby didn’t seem as enthusiastic about it as he was expecting. He said it was awkward, but before Liam could ask him why, he changed his answer. Liam decided to just go with it, not wanting to pry. Then, the other two came back in the garage, and soon after, Liam, Bobby, and Ziggy went home.

When Liam walked into his grandma’s apartment, he saw that she was still up watching tv. He walked over to her. “Grandma, you didn’t have to wait up for me.”

“Course I did. How was the party?”

He shrugged. “It was alright.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Come on, you should go to bed.”

She waved her hand, but got up. “Yeah, yeah. Who’s supposed to be the grown up here?”

He smiled at her as he picked up the remote to turn off the tv. “Sometimes, I’m not so sure.”

She started walking toward her bedroom. “Yeah, ok. You can tell me more about that party in the morning.”

“There’s not much to tell.”

“Yeah, I know what that means.” Liam rolled his eyes, not exactly sure what she was implying. “Don’t roll your eyes at me,” she said, even though her back was to him.

“Good night, grandma.”

“Good night, Liam.”

Liam spent the next few weeks trying to force himself to be happy for Bobby every time he saw him and Monyca walking down the hallway holding hands, pretending like he wasn’t annoyed when Bobby would leave lunch early to walk her to class, like he was just as excited as Danny and Ziggy when Bobby would talk about her.

Liam didn’t understand how Danny and Ziggy didn’t notice how uncomfortable Bobby was the whole time they were watching  _ Special Delivery _ . To Liam, it seemed obvious. Maybe he’d been looking over at Bobby more than was strictly necessary, but still. They were supposed to be his friends, too, right? When he asked Bobby about it, he said that they didn’t even know about his dad. The three of them had been friends for years before Liam met them. How did something like that just not come up? Were Danny and Ziggy really that dumb or did Bobby just hate talking about it that much? Liam had barely had to try to get Bobby to open up. So what made him so special? He tried not to think too much about what that could mean. After all, Bobby had a girlfriend.

Then, they got stuck in that storage room, one could even call it a closet. But Liam really didn’t want to think about that. Bobby was so upset about missing the tournament, and Liam hated seeing him that upset. He was determined to cheer him up. He saw a bottle on the shelf and got an idea. Time seemed to fly as the two of them played bottleball, making up new rules and laughing and having fun.

Bobby acted all ‘chill’ all the time, pretending to be so laid back, like he didn’t care about anything and nothing could upset him. Like he was the polar opposite of his intense and overdramatic sister. But Liam was starting to see how rarely he actually laughed. Like  _ really _ laughed. And how his smiles never quite reached his eyes. That day in that storage closet, as the two of them goofed off, Liam got to see what Bobby looked like when he was really happy. He decided that he loved the sound of Bobby’s laugh and that he would do anything to make Bobby happy.

As they sat on the floor, and Liam worked on making Bobby a ‘trophy,’ he started to open up a bit about why he had moved to Miami. Not the full story. He wasn’t ready for that yet, but he wanted Bobby to know that he’d managed to make a pretty shitty situation ‘surprisingly chill’ for him. Maybe if they’d been in that closet just a few minutes longer, he would have told him more. When their knees touched, he felt his heart stop for a second. He was pretty sure that Bobby felt something too. But then they were interrupted. The door opened, and Bobby practically jumped away from him, and Liam remembered that Bobby had a girlfriend, so there’s no point in-

_ No. _

He couldn’t even admit it to himself.

As Camilla drove them home, Bobby and Liam insisted on stopping at three different places for the French Fry Trifecta. And maybe it was because he really liked fries. But maybe it was because he knew it would make Bobby happy. And maybe it was also because it meant that he got to spend more time with Bobby.

During the car ride, he also decided that he really liked Camilla. She was funny and nice and so cool. Liam wished he had a queer adult role model like her in his life. God, Bobby had no idea how lucky he was.

Liam really didn’t want to go to the dance. Watching Bobby and Monyca dance together wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time. Even if he still hadn’t quite admitted to himself why seeing them together hurt so much. But Bobby asked him. And Ziggy and Danny. To go as friends. And pull a prank. He’d even looked for a second like he’d forgotten he even  _ had _ a girlfriend. He seemed to do that a lot. But maybe that was just wishful thinking on Liam’s part. But whatever, the prank did sound like fun, and he knew he couldn’t say no to Bobby, so here they were.

Bobby looked great all dressed up and with his new haircut. It almost wasn’t fair. After confirming their plan, the four of them split up. Liam wasn’t entirely sure why splitting up was part of the plan, but whatever. He saw Monyca heading in Bobby’s direction and looked away.

Jada came up to him and started talking to him. She was nice and cool and pretty, and she asked him to dance. He forced himself not to look for Bobby as the two of them walked out onto the dance floor. Bobby had a girlfriend. So why couldn’t Liam dance with a girl?

Maybe a part of him did it because he was hoping to make Bobby jealous, but he hadn’t expected Bobby to get so angry. He really hadn’t thought it’d be a big deal at all. The prank really wasn’t a four-man job. Honestly, it could probably be done with only two people. So when Bobby tried literally pulling him away from Jada, he was confused. And angry. Liam had had to watch Bobby date Monyca for months, but if  _ he _ wants to dance with a girl, Bobby can’t handle that? No. That wasn’t fair. 

As Liam watched Bobby leave the dance, he stood there, still confused and upset. Danny and Ziggy came over to try to talk to him, but he pushed them away. He left the dance soon after that.

He decide to avoid Bobby for a while. He needed to figure out how to feel about everything. Fortunately, it was Spring Break, so it wasn’t too hard to avoid him. And according to Danny and Ziggy, Bobby wasn’t answering his phone anyway. He spent most of the break hanging out with Danny and Ziggy or, if they were busy, his grandma and her friends.

He just didn’t know what to think about the whole Bobby situation. He didn’t understand why Bobby had gotten so mad at him. Had he been jealous? But that didn’t make sense. Bobby had a girlfriend. Why would he be jealous? His grandma told him that he should just talk to Bobby about it, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to. He wasn’t quite mad about the fight anymore, but he wasn’t quite ready to forgive him either. And he knew that as soon as he saw Bobby’s cute dumb face, he would. No matter what dumb excuse he gave him.

“You really like this boy, don’t you?”

Liam looked up at his grandma. The two of them were in the living room, her in her recliner and him on the couch. The tv was on, but neither of them were watching it. He sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

She leaned forward and held his hand in both of hers. “Look, boys are stupid.” He snorted, but he couldn’t exactly argue with her there. “What he did was stupid. But if he tries to apologize, I think you should hear him out. I really do think he likes you, too. I’ve seen the two of you together. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

He shook his head. “But he has a girlfriend.”

She gave him a look. “You know full well that that doesn’t mean shit.” He was about to argue with her, but his phone went off. As he reached for it, she said, “That’s him, isn’t it?”

It was.

‘ _ Hey man, gotta talk to you about something. _ ’

“He wants to talk.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go talk to him.” He bit his lip, still unsure. “William.” He looked up at her. “ _ Go talk to him _ .”

He nodded. “Ok.” He looked back at his phone and tried to figure out how to word his response.


End file.
